Crossfire
by Sleepy Lotus
Summary: Compassionate Sookie manages to talk Godric down from the ledge, and his presence brings great change and unexpected love into both Eric and Sookie's lives. Eric/Sookie/Godric.
1. The Power Of Three

**Crossfire**

**Disclaimer: Don't own shit…**

**Summary: Compassionate Sookie manages to talk Godric down from the ledge, and his presence brings great change into both Eric and Sookie's lives. Eric/Sookie/Godric. **

**Chapter 1:**

_**And we're caught in the crossfire**_

_**of heaven and Hell, and we're searching for shelter. -Brandon Flowers**_

In her recent association with vampires, Sookie Stackhouse had become exceedingly sensitive to the coming dawn. As much as she loved the sun, she'd even come to resent it a little, knowing it would take her lover away for the duration of its long hot journey across the sky.

This night, she dreaded the rising sun more than ever.

"Bill, I have to go to him," she insisted, tugging upon her arm. "I can't let Godric die alone."

"His child is with him," protested Bill Compton. "He wouldn't want a human there. What do you possibly think you could do?"

"Be there," she retorted.

Flabbergasted by her empathy, Bill released his hold, watching Sookie dart away with sad eyes.

He wished she were not so damned _good_. Were she a typical mortal, he could have exploited her with little regret. Enjoyed her body, taken her blood, and basked in her love with no remorse.

As it was, he hated himself and his mission a little more with each passing night.

Perhaps he'd been sent to procure the telepath for his queen, but every night he felt himself fall deeper and deeper in love with her. He truly loved her, and for that the fate he knew awaited her pained him greatly.

But what could he do? Sophie Anne was his queen, and his elder by a century. His hands were tied.

**I**

Sookie hit the roof running, lack of oxygen burning in her lungs. Dawn's rosy fingers began stroking the night sky, slowly chasing twilight to the other side of the world. She could feel the heat hovering just on the other side of the horizon; a new day waiting to burst over the waiting city.

At the top of the stairs she paused at the sight before her. Eric pleaded with his maker in a language unknown to her, but she caught the gist all the same. The vampire sank from his intimidating height to his knees, blood tears filling his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. Godric fed him soothing words, but only respect kept Eric from scooping up the smaller man, and dragging him to the safety of the shadows.

Death could not sway the ancient vampire's decision to die.

Sookie hoped that life would have a better chance.

She walked slowly to the pair of vampires, and Godric's gaze turned to find her. There was surprise in his blue eyes. Bewilderment. And pain, so much pain it tore her heart in two. He held up his hand to her approach as though to ward off a blow, but Sookie did not heed him. Her feet flew without thought, and suddenly her arms clasped Godric in a fierce embrace, surprising both vampires beyond words or action.

Eric watched with an expression of horror for her audacity. How dare she touch Godric? The greatest vampire he'd ever known?

How dare she embrace his maker, the way he wished he could at that moment?

Godric froze, completely wooden beneath her grasp. When last had he been embraced so freely? With such affection? By a human, no less? These were things he had not known for centuries, and Sookie thrusting her compassion upon him unsettled him greatly.

"You can't do this, Godric," Sookie pleaded through the tears filling her own eyes. "This world needs you, more than ever."

Slowly, unsure, Godric lowered his arms to rest upon Sookie, clasping her loosely. Her life positively thrummed against him; her warmth and scent an intoxicating medley to his senses. He understood more than ever why his child desired her so.

"I must go, dear one," he tried to explain, fingers gently caressing her hair. It was golden as the sunlight about to burst upon them, and he felt fascinated by its shimmering quality, its soft texture. "I have been of this earth too long. I have done too much harm to fathom, and I can stand it no more."

Sookie shook her head against him, head snug in the bend of his neck. "You can't give up like this, Godric. It isn't the way."

"It is my choice." His voice came smooth and reasonable, and Sookie would have none of it.

"You say you have done harm to this world, but by ending yourself, the energy dies, Godric. There is no balance in quitting like this, when you could live, and spread good for another two thousand years." She leaned back slightly to gaze into his intense blue eyes, and even with her gifts she nearly lost herself within them. "_Live_, Godric. I beg of you. Eric needs you. We all need you."

Godric palmed Sookie's cheek, and searched her eyes for any trace of dishonesty. Any sliver of ulterior motive. But she met his gaze with her tear-filled eyes, and all he could find was compassion. "Think of everyone you could _help_," she urged him. "All the lessons you have learned in the course of two thousand years. Don't throw them away, when you could bring vampires and humans alike into a new era."

With a small smile, Godric shook his head sadly. "Vampires are killers at the core, Sookie. Haven't you learned this lesson yet?"

"So are humans, really. But we fight it. We work to better ourselves. We follow teachers who help us be better men and women than what we are. Why couldn't vampires?"

"I'm no Jesus, Sookie. I'm no Buddha, waiting under the bo tree for a stroke of divine genius."

"I think you've already had your stroke, Godric," Sookie shot back. "The stroke is just the beginning, but you're throwing it all away."

"You think I'm a coward."

"I think you're scared. The guilt for all you've done has finally hit you, two millenia worth, and you're trying to cope. And you're brave enough to just end it. But I wish you would chose to live instead. You aren't alone. You don't have to go through this alone."

Godric seemed amused by her rhetoric, but Sookie recognized it as a mask. Underneath, the ancient vampire felt flabbergasted that this small pretty waitress from Bontemps, Louisiana was fighting for his life.

A human, at the end.

Perhaps he could still be surprised.

"Eric has been free of me for centuries, Sookie. You think he wants to coddle me now, when he has his own affairs to attend to?"

Eric had remained silent up until this point, merely watching with a horrified fascination. But at this moment he clasped Godric's hand, pressing it to his forehead. "Come back to Louisiana with me," he pleaded, voice haggard. "I beg of you. At least take more time to think this over."

"Yes, come back with us," Sookie pleaded. She wanted to shake some sense into this vampire, but suspected it wouldn't be one of her finer ideas.

Godric paid them both a long and evaluative gaze, taking up precious seconds. The dawn was moments away; it tingled across the vampires' skins, threatening to burst into flame with the slightest encouragement.

What seemed like an eternity passed, before Godric finally nodded. "Very well. I will think it over."

As the sun peeked over the horizon, both vampires raced for the safety of the stairwell. In the shadows once more, Sookie peeled her death grip from Godric's person, his strong arm about her waist. But she found he did not seem to want to let go.

Still nervous for the proximity of fresh beams of sun, Eric ushered them down the hall, into his room. He wished there were a way he could lock Godric in the suite, just to protect him from his own worst enemy.

Himself.

"Will you stay with us?" asked Godric quietly, vulnerable, and though Bill waited just down the hall, Sookie knew she couldn't say no.

"Yes," she agreed, expecting a leer from Eric. But there was nothing. He stared at her as though she were a species he'd never beheld before on this earth. A species he couldn't quite be sure what to make of. Friend or foe? Was it poisonous, good to eat, or something to be cherished?

He suspected she was treasure, and felt all the more wary for it.

She could turn both their worlds upside down, if they let her, but maybe it was just what Godric needed.

**II**

Godric lay upon the center of the king sized bed in Eric's suite, staring at the ceiling contemplatively. Sookie had watched in awe as Eric stripped him of his shirt with all the care of a father with his child, and tucked him beneath the covers. Dawn pulled at both of them, and Godric's eyelids drooped, but would not find peace in the undead rest of the day.

"I am indebted to you, Sookie, after this great service you have done," said Eric, rifling through a drawer. She watched him warily; old habits die hard. "You pulled Godric back from the edge where I could not, and I will not forget it."

He produced a black t-shirt, and held it out in offering. Though it would be snug upon his impressive frame, Sookie knew it would hang to her knees. Still, she regarded it with apprehension. This new side of Eric, an Eric capable of love and honor, still seemed too strange for belief to her.

Understanding perfectly well, Eric sighed, bunching the shirt in his hands. "I still want you, Sookie. I cannot change that. But I promise to behave myself tonight, if you will stay with him. I swear it." He shot a worried glance in Godric's direction, knowing very well that his maker could hear every word.

He spoke with such conviction, that for once Sookie believed him. She accepted the shirt, and turned her back to the vampire, offering him her zipper.

This was all so strange. Godric himself was older than Christianity, the belief system she'd been brought up in that laid so much emphasis on modesty and shame.

Sookie was _tired _of being ashamed of things that should have been below her notice. So why couldn't she sleep in the same bed as two other male vampires, while her own lover waited up down the hall? Well…

Eric paused, not expecting to win his argument so quickly, from past experience. A hunger rose in him at the thought of undressing her that he just barely managed to hold in check. With an iron control, he clasped the zipper, carefully drawing it down. No monkey business, no stray caresses. But still a heat blushed across Sookie's skin at the feel of his fingers upon her, the cool air brushing her bare skin inch by inch. Eric felt her desire through the bond, her response to his touch, no matter how platonic.

Things could never be truly platonic between them. Emotions ran too high, somewhere between hate and lust was a line they precariously walked.

Sookie turned to meet his eyes, and the gaze held them both static in the moment. It seemed just a breath could send them over the edge, and so with a growl Eric somehow managed to walk away, leaving her to change.

Shaking slightly, Sookie slipped out of her dress, and into Eric's shirt. Though clean, it smelled ever so slightly of him, and she fought not to bury her nose in the fabric.

With heavy eyes Godric watched Sookie advance towards the bed, her hair let down from its tight ponytail, the huge t-shirt fitting her as a nightgown. Physically, she was pretty, and lithe, but her compassionate heart lent a glow that he found irresistibly compelling. He suspected he was not the only one who responded to her energy in such a way. She slipped under the covers, and Godric curled around her with a head on her breast, with an ease that could have indicated this had been their ritual for a century past.

Sookie smoothed her fingers through his hair, watching the light spilling out from the doorway of the bathroom. Eric doing whatever it is vampires do before bed. She'd never been curious enough to ask.

Godric had been young when turned. Almost painfully young, a teenage boy at the peak of physical prowess. A youthful face that did not match the ancient eyes staring out at the world he knew all too well. After two thousand years, he felt certain he knew all her tricks, but two thousand years had not prepared him for the anomaly that was Sookie Stackhouse.

"You are a rare sort of human, little one. The likes of which I have not seen in centuries," Godric sighed, his fingers convulsing in the fabric of her shirt. He inhaled her scent, and could not place her own particular flavor of sweetness. What _was _she?

"I'm not so special," she insisted. She'd been told so by everyone, her whole life. It was a fact she'd become used to.

"No, Sookie. You _are_. Eric senses this too. It is part of the reason why he wants you, though he doesn't know how to express his interest without appearing weak. So he has given in to the temptation of playing petty games and spinning intrigues. When all he would really have to do to win you, is show you his true self. Could you know the depths of his great soul as I do, you would run from him no longer."

The light shifted, and Sookie looked up to find Eric staring out from the doorway, a horrified expression flashing upon his features, before he schooled it to an amused blankness. "Giving away my secrets already?"

He attempted to sound flippant, but Sookie detected the hint of strain beneath his words. Though he addressed his maker, his penetrating gaze remained all for Sookie, and she felt pinned to the spot by twin blue orbs.

"We vampires have served mystery and deceit faithfully since the dawn of time," mused Godric sadly. "But more and more, I think truth could be the better mistress."

Bewildered by his maker, for once Eric had no reply.

Godric toyed with the very fabric of their existence. What was a vampire, without his cloak of shadows?

He was a vampire in the sunlight.

He was a pile of dust at the first break of dawn.

Godric had _taught _Eric this.

But the rules were changing, with the great revelation. Boundaries shifting. Black and white fading to gray. Who knew where their road could lead?

Eric only knew he felt grateful to still have his maker, and that there was not much he wouldn't do to keep Godric with him, upon this earth, in _this _plane of existence.

Godric held out a hand to his child, and Eric flipped the light, crossing the room in shadow. Vaguely Sookie could make out his powerful outline, black boxer briefs, and nothing else. The Viking slipped beneath the covers, spooning his maker protectively, easily engulfing the smaller man. Sookie too turned upon her side, finding herself a slice of bread in a Godric sandwich. Though the eldest vampire held her, she knew he felt comforted to be between the two of them, her small hand laced in his own. Though it wasn't exactly a thought, she could feel his relief emanating from his every pore, that he was no longer alone.

Bill would be mad as hell if he could possibly lay eyes on the scene in Eric's room, but as it was not a bone in Sookie's body at the moment felt it could be wrong to be a pillar for Godric in his time of need.

A large hand settled upon Sookie's side, completely engulfing the curve of her hip. Even that couldn't unsettle her; Eric did not grope her or even steal a caress-he simply fit, as they all did together, and comforted by the power of three, the trio fell quickly into the arms of Morpheus.

**A/N: So…I felt a little guilty coming up empty handed for my fic "Don't" this week- there wasn't much Sookie/Eric action to go off of. So, this is my offering in its stead. Hopefully sufficient? Maybe worth continuing? Your feedback is golden! **


	2. Something Worth Living For

**A/N: Back by popular demand! Lol. I had no idea so many people liked Godric as much as I, and I'm overwhelmed by the response this story has received. Thank you, everyone!**

**Chapter 2: Something Worth Living For**

_**And when the hardest part is over we'll be here  
And our dreams will break the boundaries of our fears.**_

Eric and Godric woke in a bed only populated by two, though a note remained in the place upon the covers that still smelled so sweetly and so uniquely of Sookie Stackhouse. "_Had to do human stuff. Will be only a few doors down when you wake. Yours, Sookie."_

Eric wondered if she meant it to either of them. _Yours_. The connotation rang so differently in the vampire world, than in the human. Both vampires craved to be with her again, and soon. It was the magic of a third, a compliment to their polar personalities. A link between them-both had felt the spark of potential in the little human. Both questioned what could be, if fate would only allow it.

"How do you feel?" Eric dared ask, clasping his maker's smaller hand in his.

Godric smiled slowly, and there was a beautiful hope in that curl of lips. He touched the side of his child's face, brushed aside a lock of stray straw colored hair. "I feel like this is a night worth living."

Eric laughed with relief, pulling Godric close. It had been centuries since they'd shared such an unbound proximity-it was freeing, to tear down the walls once more, even if the most extreme of circumstance served as their catalyst.

"_She _is something worth living for, isn't she?" mused Godric, thinking on their little telepath. "I understand your interest now. She is so very special, and does not realize it in the least."

"Yes," Eric agreed cautiously. The urge boiled in him, to make some dismissive, lewd comment, but he knew his maker would see through the bravado. Godric had taken him so completely by surprise with his sage truths the night before. Eric had nearly had the grace to be mortified, but was far too proud for such a thing. As it was, things would still be difficult with Sookie.

Godric had leveled the playing field a bit, so to speak. Where Sookie had begun to suspect there was a deeper side to Eric, now she knew. She knew he could love, and that he could break.

It was all very incriminating, to say the least.

"I do not trust Bill Compton," Godric aired. "He is up to something. He is using Sookie, probably for his Queen. Such a prize as that would not escape Sophie-Anne's notice."

Eric growled at the mention of Sophie-Anne. Eight hundred years her elder, he loathed her childish games. Her glamour and vanity. He also was not a particular fan of being forced to sell V at her behest.

"It is true that he is up to something, though I have yet to discover exactly what."

Godric sat up, stretching his small body like a cat. The tattoos stood out in stark contrast against his pale skin, remnants of his tribal life so long ago. "We must protect her from their schemes," he proclaimed quietly. "She deserves better."

Eric breathed deeply, only to sigh.

Not so long ago, he too had schemed to ensnare the telepath.

Vaguely, he felt ashamed. As though he should have learned something, in the past thousand years. Strove to be better.

But deviousness came so easily to his quick and tangled mind.

The thought of Sookie filled him with a longing he had not known in ages, and Godric had described it exactly. He knew not how to possess her, without exposing that weakness in himself.

Godric proposed he play the white knight, where black had been his color of allegiance for quite some time.

His maker looked upon Eric with a small smile, as though he understood his every thought. "Be good to her, Eric. And she will be yours. Not even a blind man could miss the electricity in the room, when you're together."

Eric had thought that electricity the result of them hovering on the brink of killing each other or fucking each other, always, but perhaps there was more.

He hoped, in a secret corner of his heart, that he could not yet admit even to Godric. Yet he suspected Godric already knew. Always, his maker just _knew_.

"I don't think I know how to be good, anymore," his child confessed. "I fear if I play by the rules, that I will lose her."

A light laugh escaped Godric's lips, that lifted Eric's heart to hear. "I didn't say _play by the rules_," his maker scolded. "The rules reflect nothing important here. But truth? Truth could be your most powerful weapon, against Mr. Compton. She deserves better, than a web of lies."

"Listen to you. I think you're just as intrigued as I," goaded Eric, and Godric could not disagree.

The smaller vampire shrugged tattooed shoulders.

"Perhaps this is true. But I would not be your rival, my child. You need not worry."

Eric narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular, searching for words. "Godric, if someday, she were to be mine…I would not deny you, if she wouldn't. Surely you know this? That I can deny you nothing?"

Godric smiled indulgently. "Fool that you be," he teased, but his eyes remained shaded by the night before. He'd slapped the abyss in the face, nearly jumped into its waiting arms.

Nearly ended it all.

Now he knew, he'd only needed to find something worth living for.

His child, and that sweet girl, had been waiting all along.

**I**

Godric relocated to Louisiana, happily leaving his troubled life in Texas behind. He shared a residence with his child, and their nights passed joyfully, free of territorial instinct. The ancient vampire visited Sookie often, and many nights slipped away, simply sitting upon the front porch swing, enjoying the night and the shape of each other's voices in the dark.

They spoke of everything, they spoke of nothing.

Godric captivated her with stories of his experiences, and she valued his wisdom for ten times its weight in gold.

And, Godric listened. She told him of her strange life, growing up in a backwater town with such a unique gift, and the vampire's heart broke for the self-loathing that peppered her tales. He damned the monotheistic religions for the complexes they had plagued humanity with-Christ would be horrified by the result and the wars in his name, he had no doubt.

At times they simply held hands in the shadows, one finger innocently curled around the other's. It was not exactly romantic, though neither was it entirely platonic.

It was _magnetism_, pure and simple.

It drove Bill Compton up the wall.

Godric sensed the younger vampire watching from the forest at times. Sookie still remained romantically attached to Bill, but would not budge on the matter of Godric's visits. She'd made a commitment, the moment she burst upon the roof that fateful morning. Sookie would not abandon Godric because of Bill's insecurities.

It was not merely insecurity though, Godric knew, but fear for his own hide. Should Bill's plans go awry with the telepath, he would be punished, Godric felt certain.

Tired of speculating on Bill's intentions, Godric paid the Civil War veteran a visit one night, finding the vampire brooding in his living room. The place was a mess, amidst renovation, and Compton seemed to be taking his sweet time about it.

"I do not appreciate your visits to Sookie, Godric," spat Bill. "She has a good heart and will not deny you her charity, but she is _mine_."

"I fear it's far more than charity that binds us," said Godric quietly, regarding the living room curiously with hands clasped behind his back. "My intentions are pure."

"And mine are not?" Bill challenged.

Godric appeared before the younger vampire suddenly, clasping his shoulders in hands deceptively strong for their size. "What _are_ your intentions?" Godric demanded, blue eyes flashing silver in the moonlight. "Why are you really here?"

It was a gift of Godric's he did not advertise, but his powers of glamour were not strictly reserved for humans only. He could pick through most vampire's mind as well, like flipping pages in a book, and Bill stood no chance of resisting. And so it was that Bill answered, "Sophie-Anne sent me to secure her services. By any means necessary."

"And do you love her?"

"Yes."

"But still, you intend to throw her to the wolves?"

"I will do what I must," admitted Bill in his trance-like state, and even through the glamour Godric detected the younger vampire's shame.

"Then you do not deserve her love," Godric decreed, with all the certainty of a king. He knew what he was about to do amounted to the political meddling he'd criticized and loathed, but in this particular instance, he felt the means justified the ends. "You will let her go, Bill Compton. You will rescind your loyalty to Sophie-Anne, and leave Sookie in peace. You will leave this place, and never come back."

Bill sighed, as though this was a solution he himself had craved, but did not possess the bravery to carry out. "Yes."

"You will not remember this."

Bill stared blankly, and only awoke from the trance once Godric had long vacated the old farmhouse, taking to the sky.

**A/n: Short, I know, but bear with me while we build up the story!**


	3. We Could Be Free

**Chapter 3: We Could Be Free  
**

_**Let me inside, no cause for alarm**_

_**I promise you babe, not to do no harm…**_

Jackson, Mississippi.

Yet another southern hellhole, Eric mused.

Bill had gone missing, and Sookie felt certain foul play had been involved.

This may or may not have had to do with an engagement ring she'd found in his dresser drawer, while searching for some clue of his whereabouts. Surely he wouldn't run out, if he'd bought that for her? He would have told her, if he'd gone on a trip. The whole situation stank, she'd decided, and requested Eric's help finding him.

Normally, this situation would have smacked of opportunity for Sheriff Northman. _You want my help? What are you willing to trade? _he would have asked, and bound her tighter still. He could have used the opportunity to get a little more blood in her, or something else entirely…

But Godric's disapproval rang loud in his mind, clear as day. _Be good to her _his words echoed.

_But I've _**mastered** _the art of being bad_ his inner voice argued back.

It took very little sleuthing to discover Bill had run away to Jackson, switched allegiances, and taken up again with his maker. With the disbelief of a girl in love for the first time, Sookie wouldn't believe him. Couldn't. She just _had _to see for herself.

_Let her have her closure_, Godric had advised. _Be there to pick up the pieces. _

So when an echo of wrenching heartbreak reached him through the bond, Eric set off to do just that. Like following a thread in the darkness he sought her out, finally pinpointing her to a moderate hotel room in the heart of the city. For a while, the Viking watched her through the window, her small body curled upon the bed. The sobbing had ceased, but the hole in her heart remained. The pain, the sense of betrayal.

Lightly, he knocked at the window, and a very surprised Sookie looked up to see him hovering outside.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, pulling open the window. Her eyes were red and puffy from far too many tears shed for an unworthy vampire.

"I came to check on you. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Sookie hesitated. She'd become more comfortable with Eric, with Godric near. With his maker there to referee, he came close to behaving himself. But at that moment it appeared to be just the Viking, and Sookie remained cautious on instinct.

Yet, recently, she'd glimpsed a softer side of the Viking. A vampire capable of love and tenderness. He walked in constant contradiction, and Sookie could hardly wrap her head around it. One moment she hated him, the next, it seemed she could almost love him.

Eric watched her war with herself, but in the end, Sookie sighed, "Come in."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Sookie watched Eric slide his large form through the small window without a problem. She found herself admiring his figure from the corner of her eye, the swell of his shoulders, pinched waist, and those legs that seemed endless in their length and perfection. Vampires had enough advantages as it was…it didn't seem fair for him to be so desirable on top of it all.

"So, I'm sure you can guess that I found him." She could stand the silence no longer.

"Yes." He obviously knew her meeting with Bill had not gone well, and Sookie expected him to be smug. But there was no smirk for her, no innuendo. He merely regarded her with an intense blue gaze, and Sookie shuddered just a little with the feeling that he wanted to devour her. "He didn't deserve you," Eric finally said quietly. "You should forget about him."

"It's not so easy."

Eric took one step closer, reaching up to brush a lock of golden hair from her red-rimmed eyes. "I could make it easy for you." There was a note of longing in his voice that bordered on anguish, that tugged at Sookie's heartstrings. Maybe he could. Maybe he could dull the incessant throbbing in her chest; she never knew heartbreak could manifest in such a physical ache.

Sookie breathed deeply, and found Eric's scent soothed her greatly. It was masculine and intoxicating; it was a cold grey sea in winter, crisp and timeless. Infinite, unceasing. She'd never been able to put a finger upon it before, but this night she received an impression from his memories. Blue eyed children playing on the shore, hair white as the snow, longing for the outline of their fathers' sleek ships to appear on the horizon. It was a sight that struck fear in hearts all over the world, but on that northern stretch of beach, the Northmen would be greeted as heroes.

"You smell like the ocean," she sighed, leaning in just a little. Her small hand went to rest upon the flat of his chest, and her fingertips burned against the bare skin she grazed. Suddenly it took every ounch of Eric's willpower not to grab her up. She seemed to bring out the best and the worst of him. The animal and the honorable man. "You played by the North Sea as a child," she went on.

When she turned her eyes up to Eric's, she found him haunted, hunger burning in his expression. Gods, how did she do this to him? She made him feel unbearably human. And to be human is to be fragile, and vulnerable, and ever-changing…he'd cut that part of him out long ago, to survive. He'd become a rock, a mountain, steadfast against the winds of change howling against him. Only now was he regretting it a little, wishing he could get it back.

Perhaps she could help him find it once more, but it was a dangerous thought.

She made him long to be _known_. One of a vampire's greatest weapons is mystery, in the game of survival. But Eric was beginning to think that pure survival just wasn't _enough_ anymore.

"Yes…but how..."

"I can sense it," she answered, knees suddenly weak as his essence overtook her as a wave. Her small hand fisted the fabric of his shirt. "I…_feel_ you. The depth of your soul, and the places you have been."

She'd never truly _tasted _the Viking before; allowed the _weight_ of him to settle upon her. For a moment she felt utterly lost in the infinite sea that was Eric; she couldn't _fathom_ the complexity of his being, the experiences he'd accumulated, the history he'd seen, and made. Next to him she felt fragile as a feather, waiting to be blown away by the next gust of wind time sent her way.

Sookie seemed frightened, and a tiny panic shocked his nerves. He feared too, that she would pull away from him, when he'd done nothing this night but stand before her. And so he gave in to his impulse, because he couldn't _bear _the distance between them any longer. His lips brushed against hers, a touch of silk that sent shivers across Sookie's skin. The kiss quickly grew into a pulsing and demanding thing, Eric fisting her hair in his hands, engulfing her, unwilling to let her go.

Sookie could barely think with his hands upon her at long last. But she could do this, couldn't she? Let Eric dull the pain, even if only for a night? She surprised him as she shoved him back onto the bed, and he watched her approach with the wariness of a haunted man. But as she crawled to straddle him, they flowed together as water, his large hands smoothing up luscious thighs, pushing her nightgown aside for his exploration. Cupping her buttocks he pulled her close, and she fit perfectly in the cradle of his large body, sheltered from the world that existed beyond that moment of oblivion they shared.

Eric kissed her feverish skin, exploring the smooth flesh of her back, the soft and perfect curves nature had carved upon her. It was as his hands hovered beneath her bra, as he lavished attention upon the graceful curve of her neck, that the vampire paused at the salty taste of fresh tears. He looked up to find Sookie with her head tilted back, jaw clenched.

"You don't want this," he sighed, drawing back minutely, his hands sliding down to rest at her waist. As much as one could, with a partner upon one's lap.

Sookie's eyes flew open, and for all the things he'd beheld over countless years, for the life of him he could not read her. She gave a sad smile, and reached up to trace the line of his cheek, marveling at the translucence of his pale flesh. "I do want this," she tried to explain. "But it's not fair to you. No matter what attraction we feel, I'm using you as a pain killer tonight."

It was almost amusing. This little mortal girl, worrying about his feelings. Worrying about being fair, when he'd tricked her so perfectly into sharing blood with him.

Eric attempted a snicker, his usual armor, but it came as something more strained. "You can use me as anything you want tonight," he found himself offering. "I promise not to take offense." He could be her pillar of strength, the oblivion she desired. He could wait for his own gratification; he wasn't even sure what he really wanted from the telepath, but her sitting upon him in such a way seemed like a wonderful start.

Eric managed to muster a rogue smile, one that usually sent her pulse racing, but Sookie knew something was off. She shook her head, her lower lip trembling, and Eric sensed she would begin sobbing again at any moment. That she would need to exorcise her pain in such a way for a while longer, as was only human in a situation such as this. "Why do we always lie to each other?" she mused, voice strained. "Not just you and I, but everyone in the world. We're all so afraid of being in pain that we build these walls, yet if we could ever approach each other with purity and honesty from the very beginning, there would be no need." She shook her head with the thought, and Eric's eyebrows shot high. "We could be _free_," she whispered, and her words sent a volley of chills down his spine.

_Free_.

It seemed he was in for it, as the saying goes, and much sooner than he'd anticipated.

"You are beginning to sound like Godric," he tried to evade, but she held him captive with a gentle touch upon either side of his face.

"Godric is _very _wise," she insisted, and he agreed.

_Too _wise, maybe.

Sookie could feel Eric drawing back into himself, securing the armor back in place, and she could have screamed for it. She shook her head, and Eric felt certain she could read his thoughts too. That she knew the vulnerability in him, lurking just below the surface. "I feel your fear, but I don't understand," she said quietly. "How could _I _ever hurt _you_, Eric?"

The Viking groaned, resting his forehead against hers, his fingers tangled in her hair. Gently he pulled, tilting her head back, and his lips knew hers in a gentle kiss. "You might make me need you," he finally answered. "And that would be a very dangerous thing."

"I thought you liked danger?" She kissed him once more, because she suddenly couldn't stand the proximity without having his lips again.

"I like having the upper hand." And if he allowed himself to love Sookie, Eric had a feeling his control would go out the window. There would be no master; true love doesn't work that way. He had not allowed a love like that into his life for more than four hundred years. Even with Pam, his beloved child, there was an _understanding. _But true love?

It simply burns, and only those with pure intention stood to remain unscathed.

Eric couldn't _remember _the last time he'd operated with pure intentions.

So where did it leave him?

He couldn't manipulate Sookie into being his. Even if Godric would allow it, he himself found he no longer had the stomach for it.

He also found he wasn't quite capable of stepping down, and letting her go.

Which left one more option: be a better man.

A sadness washed over him, for it seemed to him that at least in this, Eric could only fail.

Frustrated, Eric looked about the room with a sudden disdain. Nice enough, but completely unremarkable. It reeked of a hundred others using it before Sookie. A disposable space, for disposable lives. The thought of her sleeping here, this bright soul, who shined with a brilliance to blind him to all others, suddenly disgusted him. "Let me take you home," he offered, and Sookie nodded sadly.

She'd come close to breaching the castle walls, but Eric's heart was a citadel. A veritable fortress, and she suddenly remembered that maybe she didn't _want _access to the inside. She'd been caught up in the moment, but with a clearer head, the thought of a relationship with the vampire sheriff inspired a great sense of reservation.

Eric watched her gather her things, as a wolf regards a rabbit. Attentive of her every move, plotting how to catch her. It was unnerving and flattering, all at the same time. Her words played over and over in his mind.

_We could be free_.

It was an enticing lure, for a vampire who had served other masters for quite some time. But such a thing could not come easily. It never did.

Eric carried her bags down to the waiting Corvette, a quiet telepath trailing by his side. He'd let her borrow his car for the journey; he had not trusted that yellow rust bucket on four wheels to make the journey, and Sookie hadn't really either.

In the intimacy of the dark car, a heavy silence hung between them, that neither Sookie nor the vampire knew how to penetrate. Where to start? So much they desired to say, but too much fear tangled up in it all.

Finally, Eric decided upon a safe subject. Their common link. "You cannot fathom the happiness you have brought me, Sookie, in saving Godric. Having him by my side once more has been the greatest gift. For a long time, I have existed…but now, I feel I am finally beginning to live again. So, thank you."

Sookie's eyebrows shot up at his heartfelt gratitude, and were he human, she would have felt his forehead for a temperature.

But Eric was vampire, and therefore very healthy, and very serious.

"He brings me happiness too," she agreed. "And most importantly, I think he himself is happy."

"Yes. You have a great deal to do with that, you know. You have a knack for bringing us joy."

A small smile spread on Sookie's lips. "Then why do I only seem to make you miserable?"

Eric could have sighed with relief, for the opportunity for easy banter. "I am only miserable with desire, lover. But the fact that you resist is your loss as much as mine."

"Your ego is astounding."

"It's not entirely ego. You seemed happy enough earlier, before conscience got in the way," he teased easily, skittering from the unfamiliar territory of true emotion to something he felt entirely more comfortable with: innuendo. His long fingers stretched out to caress her hand, and surprisingly, Sookie allowed the contact. She did not fight as he slipped his fingers between hers, and it was as their night in Dallas, where they simply _fit_.

"You should let me give you a gift, to show my appreciation," pushed Eric, squeezing lightly the small hand captured in his.

"Godric _is_ a gift," Sookie protested with a smile.

"Yes. But still, let me do something nice for you."

Sookie quirked an eyebrow, wondering what _something nice _entailed. But it did not seem he was hitting on her, for once in their history.

"Your house is falling apart," he stated bluntly. "You are a barmaid and do not make enough money to keep up with it. But I know this is your family home, and it means a great deal to you-let me have it fixed for you. All of it."

"Eric, no!" she protested. "It's too much."

Eric shrugged. "I have too much money. It would be nothing, to my pocket book. But a great deal, I think, to you. And to me. I feel I owe you something great."

"I can't accept a gift like that. It would far too much."

"It would be a pittance, compared to the debt I owe you."

The headlights of a passing car highlighted his features, just for a moment, but just enough for Sookie to catch the detail of his smile. It was not smug, or infuriating, or even cruel. It was…warm, human, and she knew he thought of Godric, and the unexpected luck of having his maker in his life once more. Sookie's heart swelled in a way she couldn't quite understand, but she suddenly felt quite finished with Jackson, Mississippi, and the vampire who had abandoned her. She missed Godric, and longed for his sage smile.

Only hours before, she'd been in so much pain she'd felt certain she would _die_, but now here she was, holding hands with Eric in his car, and looking forward to seeing yet another vampire who waited at the end of the road.

Did that make her fickle?

Merely human?

Really frickin' lucky?

Eric's long thumb caressed the back of her hand absently, and the heartbreak slowly receded like the tide, retreating to occupy a small part of her heart, instead of swarming all around it with the fury of a hurricane.

Sookie sighed, and finally half-ceded, "Maybe I'll think about it. But no promises."

Eric's lips curled slightly, his confidence returning full force once more. He would persist, and he felt certain he would have his way in the end.

**A/N: This is the chapter that started this story off in my head, that has been interfering with my life until I could get it down on paper…lol…I hope you all enjoyed, and a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed!**


	4. A Beautiful Thing

**Chapter 4: A Beautiful Thing**

**_It's time to let your hair down _**  
**_ and give yourself permission, _**  
**_ It takes courage and control _**  
**_ But you start by letting go. -Brandon Boyd_**

"So, Godric, how _are _we going to save the world?"

Sookie craned her head from its place upon Godric's thigh to regard him with an expression of total content, a playful light glinting in her eyes. She lay sprawled like a cat, one arm slung above her head, the other hand entwined with his. Godric's skin glowed faintly in the night, reflecting the moon's beams as though his flesh was forged of a rare and precious material.

Sookie would vouch that to be true.

A month had passed since Bill left her, and she'd never known such _peace _in her life. She reveled in it, craved Godric's serene presence like a drug. Already, she knew she loved him, and didn't know how _anyone _couldn't love him. Deep down, she felt certain his name had been scrawled across her soul by the pen of fate. Upon her heart, _Godric _lay written in the purest gold ink, the most beautiful lettering.

At that very moment, she and her bi-millennial vampire were on a picnic.

Upon an old blanket in the center of an open field, the blinking glow of fireflies danced around them. They enjoyed the clarity of the stars and the magic of the moon's silver light. Compared to the universe spread out like diamonds upon the velvet black of the abyss, even Godric felt small, and young, and humbled by their beauty.

He laughed lightly, and it was a sound that touched Sookie deeply. "Oh, my young one," he sighed, tracing her features with feather light fingertips. Her eyes slid closed in response to his touch; _this_ was bliss, plain and simple. "Your indomitable spirit fills me with a strength you cannot know. You speak of impossible things so easily, and I love you for it."

"You make me feel like nothing is impossible," she insisted, kissing his fingertips. She'd won his friendship and his trust that night on the roof. Access to his wisdom and strength, and an infinite mind. Why _couldn't _they take on the impossible, like a laundry list? What _couldn't _they do, together?

The power of their love made her feel invincible. Like the ocean, vast and mysterious, it knew no end.

"So, what shall we do?" she goaded. _What's your latest spell? _she asked of the wizard, wondering what magic he would pull from his mind.

"Hmm. We shall fill the world with beautiful things," he suggested with a gentle smile, peering down at her with ancient sage eyes. "Could everyone have just one thing in their lives as beautiful, as wonderful as you, this world would not be so cruel. We could all bear the burden, without such fear in our hearts."

Sookie sighed as his finger moved down the column of her neck, brushing the lines of her collarbone. The sundress she wore, covered in tiny white and yellow flowers, sweet as sugar and trimmed with lace, complimented her figure to perfection. She shuddered as his feather light touch ghosted over the lace strip of her bodice, arching her back slightly. He watched her with a rapt fascination, taken by the feel of her excitement. He'd almost forgotten the intoxication, the triumph, of inspiring arousal in the heart of someone beautiful.

It was almost too much to stand. Her life, her sheer brilliance, stirred something in Godric he'd thought long gone. It had been more than a century, since he'd desired anyone in such a way, man or woman. He'd grown weary of carnal pleasures for the sake of diversion, the monotony of it without emotional investment.

But the thought of making love to this woman someday was a possibility that excited him, as nothing had managed to, in far too long. "Sookie Stackhouse, you wake desires in me that I thought long dead. One by one, the pleasures of life had faded to grey, until I desired nothing of it anymore. And along you came, wielding a brush loaded with all the colors of the rainbow, brightening my world."

Sookie shook her head humbly, disbelieving that she'd accomplished all he claimed. Surely there had been _some _desire to live remaining in Godric? Just waiting for a little shove in the right direction.

Away from the ledge.

Godric reached over into one of the small bowls at the edge of the blanket, drawing out a succulently ripe ranier cherry. She took the offering between her lips, just barely grazing his fingertips, and he watched her attentively as she closed her eyes to savor the sweet burst of flavor over her tongue.

He found he wanted her to devour him in that way, wholly and completely, until only the essence remained.

Sookie may have been sweet, but she was not oblivious. That particular brand of heat in his eyes, directed at her, stirred not only her heartstrings, but other parts down low.

It was a look that eerily reminded her of Eric in a way, and she wondered if the Viking had learned some of his most infuriating bad habits from his maker. But receiving such a look from Godric only tantalized her; their relationship had evolved without constricting definition. Kisses were exchanged when they felt like it, without explanation or label. Holding hands came naturally, so they simply did it.

_Free_.

And at that moment, Sookie wondered if they would soon discover each other even more intimately, and even surprised herself for the sudden hunger she felt for him.

Godric reached for another cherry, but Sookie caught his hand, lacing his fingers in hers. "I'm full," she protested softly. "It's _your_ turn now."

Turn for _what_ exactly remained vague, but Sookie preferred it that way. They would do what impulse came to them, and she could regret nothing. She would give him everything without looking back.

Hunger rippled in Godric's belly, his eyes drawn to the pulse at her throat. "Do you really want this?" he asked, lightly tracing the vein upon her neck, and the smaller capillaries that practically danced before his eyes, beneath the skin of her chest. Her breasts rose as she inhaled deeply, suddenly struggling for breath at his touch.

She did want him to taste her, more than anything. She wanted to share herself with him, she _hungered _for that intimacy of giving him her life force. "Please?" She tilted her neck in offering, and the ancient vampire sighed for the banquet before him.

Godric pulled her to sit in his lap, his chest at her back a muscled wall, his arms strong as corded steel. He was a small man, not much taller than her, and she found the similarity in size facilitated a surprising ease for fitting together. Seamless as an M.C. Escher print, sometimes she could not discern where she ended and he began. "If we are to do this, Sookie, I first must make a confession," he whispered against her cheek.

Usually, when a vampire claimed a need to confess to her, Sookie felt a great deal of apprehension. But this night she only waited, peaceful, unconcerned. "Oh?"

He had to tell her the truth. There could be no lies between them, not now.

"You know that your talents are considered valuable, to vampires who would use you for their own ends."

"Yes."

But she didn't fear them anymore. Why would she, Godric at her side, and Eric not far behind?

She and the Viking continued to circle around each other, but neither had quite made the deciding move yet. Eric knew it was only a matter of time. Sookie too was beginning to realize it was not a matter of if, but when.

"When I first came here, I discovered Bill had been sent by Queen Sophie-Anne to ensnare you," he relayed quietly. "So I sent him away. Quietly, peacefully. It seemed the best way."

Sookie's eyebrows shot high at this revelation. "How?"

"My powers are great, Sookie. There is not much I cannot do, if I wish it. Except for that which I desire most for this world."

Sookie knew already what Godric desired most for this world. His fondest wish was to kill that useless emotion: fear. If he could, he would wipe it from existence; give love a chance. Only without fear, could life truly thrive, he'd determined, for humans and vampires and everything else.

As it was, most just scrambled to _exist_, at best.

The telepath digested what her vampire had just revealed to her. Once, she might have howled, but that night there was no anger for his actions. She couldn't even be surprised, really, that Bill had sought her out with an ulterior motive in mind. Looking back, with the clarity only hindsight can boast, their whole relationship did seem a bit _off_. She'd been lonely, and Bill's mind had been silent.

At that time, it seemed he was all she could possibly want.

He'd been a gentleman, most of the time. Condescending and a little controlling, the rest. Often a stick in the mud. Possessive and petty, defending what was _his_.

She'd found out that she could do much better than Bill Compton, to say the least.

"Are you angry with me?" asked Godric, leaning to regard her expression, the faintest line of worry about his tranquil blue gaze.

She only paid him a warm smile, and shook her head no. This night, she could regret nothing that brought her to that moment, there with him. Godric returned her curl of lips; her joy was infectious. The black hole of depression he'd fallen into seemed light years away, with her smile to hold it at bay.

"I can't be angry with you, Godric, for protecting me. So will you taste me now?"

The vampire smiled brightly; it was a boyish and joyful smile, in glaring contrast with the image of his fangs descending. They gleamed in the moonlight, terrible and beautiful to behold, razor sharp. "If you like."

Sookie tilted her head, stretching her neck in offering before him. But to her surprise the sharp piercing sting of fangs sliding into flesh did not come; but the soft caress of loving kisses. He stirred everything within her, love and lust, until she melted under his hands. Her desire became a heady and pulsing thing; she wanted more than anything, the relief of pressure his bite would bring.

"Godric, _please_," she pleaded, nearly writhing in his strong arms.

The pair was not alone in their clearing in the woods.

A shadow watched from the trees, fascinated by the figures converging in the twilight. There was a hint of voyeurism in Eric's quiet gaze, but mostly, he stood with the focused attention of an apt student, paying close heed to his master's lessons. Through his bonds with both Sookie and Godric, he could feel the strength of their love, the purity of their devotion. It was flavored with curiosity and wonder, and the zest of desire.

Of anyone else, Eric would have been mad with jealousy. But it was his maker who held the telepath so near, caressed her throat with the tickling touch of razor sharp fangs. His own fangs descended for the show before him.

Sookie gripped at Godric's arms as he prepared to drink from her, that lithe body arching against his, her ample bosom heaving, and Eric longed for her to react to him with such rapture someday.

For her to offer him her lifeblood with such generosity.

Could _he _ever be so selfless? He who had viewed humans as just a means to his own pleasure for so long? He was predator, they prey…it was the way of their world.

Godric had taught him these rules.

But watching Sookie and Godric, his soul rumbled with the hunger pangs of a man who wanted more out of life than instant gratification.

He marveled at the warmth of the emotions flowing between them, and waited for Godric to finish the ritual, to pierce her tender neck. He wondered if Godric would also offer his blood; the energy between them screamed of a vampire that would forge a bond with this human.

His human.

A sudden feeling of loneliness gripped Eric, ambushed him from behind, and he prepared to take to the air so he would no longer be faced with this scene of perfect content, and he the outsider, lingering outside the window.

But he felt a pause in the energy radiating from the pair in the clearing, and he turned to look once more.

_Will you join us, Eric?_

The Viking found Godric looking his way over Sookie's shoulder, poised to strike, but not having yet drawn blood.

Eric desired to join them, deeply, and couldn't resist the impulse. In a flash he stood at the edge of the blanket before them, quiet as the grave. She felt his presence, the way one feels a change in pressure before a storm, and peered up at him through heavily lidded eyes. He could not discern if she felt pleased to see him or not; he felt an invisible barrier remained at the edge of the blanket. Perhaps Godric had invited him, but it was Sookie who held the final word.

Eric could not hide the hunger in his gaze, balancing precariously on the edge of an elusive brand of redemption. With bated breath, he waited, for the right word.

Sookie blinked, a simple sweep of long lashes that managed to capture all his attention. She said nothing, but held out a hand in invitation, a gesture which caused Eric's gut to clench with desire. He fell to kneel at her feet, yet still towering over the both of them. Godric rolled blue eyes up to regard his child through the fly-aways of Sookie's golden hair, and their eye-contact sent something akin to lightning down the Viking's spine.

Eric found the contrast between his dark haired maker and Sookie so fair in the moonlight breathtaking, and suddenly wanted them _both _very badly. He shrugged out of his leather jacket, tossing it to the grass, and Sookie unintentionally licked her lips for the effect of the robin's egg blue of his shirt, his milky pale arms bare to the breeze.

"You wish us both to taste you this night?" asked Eric softly. Time and experience had taught him caution, but her sultry smile evaporated all doubt. Sookie's toes curled as the Viking reached out, caressing the arch of her foot gently. Just that simple touch sent a tremor through her, shaking her to the core. The vampires glanced to each other once more, the smell of Sookie's desire stirring them both, like sharks at the scent of blood in the water.

But the telepath feared nothing that night, in Godric's arms, and Eric before her, with such an expression of hunger mixed with reverence written plainly across his features. He let down his armor, let her see the way he wanted her.

"Hungry?" she asked lightly, corner of her mouth curling at the growl she received in reply.

"Starving." His hands traveled higher, caressing her calves, palming the round and shapely muscles of her legs. Gently he pushed them apart, and Sookie gasped for his strong hands upon her knees, her lips parting in anticipation. He looked to his maker, and a silent signal passed between them, that the games could truly begin. She cried out as they fell upon her, Godric's melting kisses at her neck, and Eric devouring her mouth demandingly. She could hardly distinguish which hands explored where at first, until large hands gripped her thighs, parting them farther.

Moisture pooled between her legs for the both of them, and she could hardly think past the straining tightness of her womb, the throbbing between her legs. Godric's arm wrapped about her waist, pulling her closer, so that she could feel the swell of his excitement pressed against her back. Skilled lips skimmed the skin of her thigh, unmistakably large hands pushing up the skirt of her dress, gripping the round of her rear end beneath her panties, before Eric impatiently ripped them away. Every inch of Sookie's skin burned, aching for some sort of release, and she writhed against the vampires that drove her mad with their centuries of experience.

Completely in sync with each other, both vampires tensed for the strike, and Sookie moaned as their fangs pierced her skin. Blood welled in a hot rush, and the vampires groaned in tandem for the heady taste of her life's essence filling their mouths, their bellies, their veins. A tingling connection built between the trio; the vampires' hearts beat in time to Sookie's, and menial personal boundaries like skin and bone began to blur.

Sookie arched back against Godric as a single long finger slid inside her, a knowing thumb rubbing circles about her nub. Eric groaned for the feel of her, her channel weeping for release, clenching desperately around him. He added another finger, stretching her more, and a scalding pleasure began to build between her legs. Sookie cried out as the elder vampire's hand slid inside her bodice to cup her breast, a single fingertip tweaking her nipple in such a way that nearly brought her.

Both vampires knew that for Sookie's sake, they had to stop soon, but neither could quite yet bring themselves the part from her sweet taste. Her wanton cries fired something primal deep within them, and both could feel her release building through the magic of the blood-letting, as though it were their own. As one mind and body Godric lifted her into Eric's arms, turning her so that the Viking now had her back. Arms wrappe around her, he teased the wound at her neck, and the taste of Sookie and his maker mingled pulled an appreciative moan from deep in his chest.

Godric lifted Sookie's legs over his shoulders, holding her as though she weighed no more than a feather. Eric watched hungrily as his maker's dark head bent over her center, and laved at her juices, causing her back to arch against him. The magic bound them, tighter and tighter, until all three felt certain they would die if the power did not release somehow.

The eldest vampire slid a finger inside her, curling his fingertip against the most sensitive bundle of nerves inside her. He latched on to the wound at her thigh as she came with a scream, her hands scrabbling for a hold on this world, finding it in Eric's shirt and hair. Sookie's freefall over the edge took both vampires with her, and they experienced the purest rush of bone-tingling pleasure, the intensity of the blood-magic causing a storm of furious color to flash before their eyes, rending their bodies to rubber.

Panting, even those who needed no oxygen to survive, the trio collapsed in a pile upon the blanket, Sookie atop Eric, and Godric curled upon Sookie. "I knew you would be magnificent," sighed Eric, sliding fingers through long blond tresses.

"What _was _that?" Sookie somehow managed to ask, shifting slightly so that she slid from Eric, and lay between the both of them. Godric peered over the top of Sookie's head at his child, and the vampires shared a moment of understanding. Neither entirely understood their bond, but both knew it to be a powerful and special thing. Its strength lay in their love for one another, and Godric knew the two younger of the three could not hide from it much longer.

"A beautiful thing," Godric answered, kissing her gently before settling upon her breast. "Here now, we're saving the world already."

Feeling almost delirious with afterglow, Sookie laughed joyously, and Godric joined her. Eric, however, remained confused, having only arrived after their proposed solution to bettering the world around them. "Did I miss something?" he asked, nearly annoyed, and it only caused the others to laugh harder.

"Don't worry, my child," Godric assured him with a smile, lacing his fingers in the larger man's. "We will fill you in."

Raising an eyebrow, Eric gave a lazy smile.

Obviously, these two were going to be trouble together, and he could hardly wait to see what their mischief would stir up.

**A/N: This chapter has been BURNING in my brain for days, I hope you enjoyed! A special shout out to Gattopardo for her special help! Thank you all!**


	5. Blessed Is The Dreamer

**Chapter 5: Blessed Is The Dreamer**

With a heaviness in his heart, Eric watched Sookie through the windows of her house, a creature of the night gazing longingly upon the warmth within. She oscillated back and forth between reading a book and tidying things, a restless circuit that may have amused Eric, were he in a lighter mood.

As it was, he fought with himself, searching for courage, rummaging through the dusty halls of his conscience to do what he knew was right. The vampire in him urged him to go forward, to claim what was his, though the right path may lay in quite the other.

The right path may lay in letting her go, and it was a thing that frightened Eric, more than anything had in centuries. He feared the pain that would come in such a loss; for when he'd not been looking, this little woman slipped in the backdoor of his heart, made a place for herself without him even realizing.

The right thing would be to go away, right that moment. From this farmhouse, from Louisiana, even. Leave her to Godric, who would without a doubt be good to her. Better than he could ever be.

Despite of it all, Eric found one foot placing itself in front of the other, until slowly, his long legs brought him across the yard, nearly to the front porch. Sensing his approach, Sookie quickly went out to meet him upon the stoop, a beatific smile upon her lips that caused his ancient heart to pound, a tingle running its course down his spine. Sookie wore a thin white nightgown that did very little to conceal the curves beneath it, its lace trimmed skirt lifted gently by the wind against her thighs.

"Eric," she breathed as a whisper, and he could not resist her as her arms slid around his neck, pulling him close in a warm embrace. She stood a step above him, and still could not match his towering height.

_Please don't say my name that way_.

He could not bring himself to say it aloud.

"It's been so long," she sighed. They had not seen each other since their interlude in the meadow, nearly two and a half weeks ago. Business as sheriff had pulled him away, and he resented every moment of it.

Even more, he resented the orders Sophie-Anne sent with him. "_Sookie_," he sighed against the curve of her neck, burying his nose in the warmth of her hairline. Her scent was that of a night blooming flower, delicate, mysterious, ever-so sweet. "We must talk."

There, a step in the right direction. Perhaps soon the rest would jump on the bandwagon. Perhaps he would do the right thing, even if he had to trick himself into it.

"As you like." She pulled back to search his expression, detecting _something _in his tone, some note of uneasiness so uncharacteristic of her confident Viking. "Come see what the carpenters have done," she invited. She'd caved to his insistent demands, allowing him to send repairmen round to spruce up her family home. He had noticed the outside of the house glowed with a particular luminescence in the moonlight, a fresh coat of paint. Now, with her before him, it all seemed paltry in comparison.

"You are happy?"

"Yes," she admitted shyly, blue eyes glancing away. "But not just…" Her gaze rose to meet his. "It makes me happy, because it's a gift from you," she explained. "So, thank you." And she kissed him gingerly, a brush of lips that drew forth a rumbling groan from deep in Eric's chest. She seemed to approve of the sound, moving to kiss his cheek. "Thank you." And Eric sighed as her lips touched his ear, whispering, _"Thank you_."

"Don't thank me yet," begged Eric quietly, hoisting her in his arms in an effort to duck away from that enchanting little mouth, and all the ways he wanted to press his own to it. She giggled as he carried her up the steps as though she weighed no more than a feather, setting her down upon her doormat only at her insistence. She took his hand, and began to lead him towards the stairs.

Eric longed for that long coveted area of the house, just as he feared he would betray her, were he allowed within that night.

"Show me the kitchen," he insisted, tugging upon her hand in the opposite direction.

He'd given orders for all new appliances to be installed, and new cabinets and fixtures to whatever Sookie's desires may be.

Sookie, however, could not for the life of her fathom why Eric, a vampire, would have any interest in the place where human food was prepared. Her expression, one blond eyebrow quirked high, a questioning smile in place, conveyed as much. "Are you avoiding my bedroom, Eric Northman?" she asked, clearly amused.

Caught red handed in a scenario he'd never _dreamed _possible, Eric confessed, "I fear I will not say what needs saying, in that room I have desired access to since the moment I first laid eyes upon you, Sookie."

There was a gravity in his gaze, a weight to his words, that caused the playful light in Sookie's eyes to fade. The sight caused a pang in Eric's chest, a true physical pain, that unnerved as much as it annoyed him.

"Oh no. What now?" She'd hoped the days of difficult vampire politics to be behind them; but perhaps she and Godric dreamed just _a bit _too much beneath their blanket of stars.

_No _she scolded herself. Perhaps she and Godric were dreamers, but she didn't want to live anymore without the beauty of their imaginations. The possibility that _some_ of their plans could come true. She believed in the ancient vampire, the way she'd only believed in her Gran. Love could be a truly powerful thing, and Godric's ran deep and vast as the oceans.

A heavy sigh escaped the vampire. "Sit, lover." He handed her into one of the kitchen chairs, barely noticing the state of the kitchen and dining room, the shiny new feel of the fixtures and trappings. Kneeling before her, he clasped her hand, dwarfing it in his own. "Godric told you of Bill Compton, and the way the Queen sent him here to collect you."

"Yes." She could speak of it now with little regret, Bill seemed such a distant part of her past now. Her love for Godric filled her nearly to bursting, and Eric easily took up the rest.

"Well now…" Eric groaned with the thought, which shifted to a growl, his temper rising as he heard Sophie-Anne issue her royal decree, even if only in his memory. She _would _spoil this for him - steal the purest love he could ever chance knowing, for some twisted design of her own. He pressed his forehead to Sookie's hand, seeking the calm she brought him. "Now Sophie-Anne has ordered me to bond you, Sookie. She would have you this way, through me…but I will not allow it. As much as I want you-"

Sookie's breath caught in her throat, as Eric turned flashing blue eyes up to her, their artic intensity shocking her as a lightning bolt. Perhaps she was immune to vampire glamour, but Eric's beauty ran deeper than that; at times she felt certain he could peer straight into her soul, and the thought frightened as much as it titillated.

"I want you to drink Godric's blood," Eric went on. "As soon as possible. I will report you were already taken, and Sophie will have no claim upon you. She cannot challenge Godric, and he has sworn no fealty to her."

Sookie sat stock still in the chair, her heart pounding in her chest, even as she feared it might be breaking.

She had not realized how much she'd hoped to be a part of Eric as well as Godric, until this moment, as he knelt before her and swore it could not be so. She pressed her lips, as she pressed Eric's palm to rest above her heart, inhaling a rattling breath. "_No_," was all she could force past the tightness in her throat.

Eric too felt a suspicious tearing sensation deep within his chest. "_Sookie_," he coaxed, even as something deep within him revolted against the idea of letting her go. It roared and paced, clawing the ground in protest. "It must be so."

"_No_," she insisted once more, voice stronger, yet her hands shaking as she raised them to cup Eric's face, tracing noble features with her thumbs. She scooted closer in the chair, the thin lace hem of her nightgown riding high upon svelte thighs. "Don't leave us, Eric. I need you. I need you _both_."

A small, if not tragic smile pulled at the corner of Eric's mouth; his greedy little Sookie, she _would_ demand it all.

"It is best this way, lover," he insisted, even as it hurt him to force the words past his mouth. "I am doing this for you." And because he could stand the stinging longing in her eyes for not one more second, he rose to his feet, caressing Sookie's cheek with the blade of his thumb. "You'll be safe," he promised. "I swear it."

Sookie jumped to her feet to follow the Viking as he reluctantly walked towards the door, long legs closing the distance in too little time.

"Eric!" she pleaded, and the Viking froze in his tracks, the raw quality of her tone freezing his legs in place. "We've come so far. Don't walk away now, now that I could…"

Slowly Eric turned, daring to meet her eyes as a breath he no longer needed still caught in his throat. "Could what, Sookie?" The question came as a low rasp, his large hands closing over her narrow shoulders. He wanted to shake her for being so headstrong; he'd nearly made it to the door, but something alarmingly tender in him couldn't refuse her, when she was in pain.

Sookie too suddenly found it hard to breathe, and she covered his hands in hers, gripping them to give herself some anchor in a world that seemed unsteady under her feet. The words proved shy, caught upon her tongue; why could such truths be spoken so easily with Godric? That four-letter word, _love_, they exchanged so easily. But with Eric, it was a dangerous thing, a potentially volatile situation. She wondered who she trusted less at that moment to do something foolish, to ruin it all; herself, or him.

She swallowed hard.

She steeled herself to the truth.

She hoped, and it was the best she could do, as she finally admitted, "I could love you, Eric Northman, if you would give me the chance."

Eric closed his eyes at the sound of such powerful words; for a moment the Viking truly felt dizzy, slightly weak at the knees. "I deserve neither you nor Godric. I am a wicked creature, Sookie. My heart is a black and twisted thing - let me go."

Sookie would nor could do any such thing.

"You are a _complicated _vampire, Eric, I won't argue that. And you can be scary at times. I know you can kill without a second thought - yet I also know you are capable of staggeringly profound emotions. I see it every time you look at Godric. And I _want _you to look at me that way. I _hunger_ for it. I hunt for it in my dreams, when I close my eyes every night."

"What if you're wrong, Sookie? You wouldn't be the first woman to think me a better man than I really am - - and you can't change me."

"I want to _know _you, Eric. It's different. Very different."

Eric looked down upon this small woman, who stood so _fearlessly _before him, and found he himself no longer possessed the strength with which to fight her.

My, how the tables had turned, and he wrapped an arm around her waist as he stepped closer.

"You blessed dreamer. I'm going to take you upstairs now," he informed her.

"Finally?" she quipped cheekily, as he steered her towards the stairs.

"I'm going to love you until you can no longer move a muscle."

"Good."

"There's no turning back now, Sookie Stackhouse. Do you understand?"

"Prove it."

The predator in Eric suddenly returned, and leaning down to devour her with kisses, Eric swept her up into his arms, taking the stairs two at a time, with _every _intention of doing _just_ that.

**A/N: Thank you, THANK YOU, everyone for the overwhelming response to this fic! I hope to continue it soon. Meanwhile, I have EXCITING news! If you enjoy my writing, check out my profile page for news about an original project.**


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